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New Principals, Skilled Leaders
Tai Schoeman, Principal of El Dorado Elementary School, on
communicating vision and success
What inspired you to become a principal?
I started in Long Beach where the professional development that
was provided, the new teacher support, was really systematic.
At the time I just thought it was helpful, but now I know it was
essential and critical to my advancement as a teacher. When I
came to [El Dorado]…I wanted to move the school in a direction
I really believed in. I felt I could make more of a difference
as a principal than as an IRF [Instructional Reform Facilitator,
a teacher leader position hired by San Francisco Unified School
District to support low-performing schools].
You were an IRF for three years at
El Dorado before becoming the principal. How was that transition?
I anticipated it to be challenging, because I was moving from
the role of a colleague to more of a boss. But I was still not
prepared for how difficult it would be to get people to change,
and some of the things you have to do micropolitically, like making
them feel like it's their choice and getting buy in. As an IRF
I did gain some skills in that area. But it's amazing how different
it is when people feel like you have a say in how well they do.
They feel more of a critical eye. I'm working on how to make people
feel like they're doing a good job, to get them to want to continue
to improve, without it feeling like I'm criticizing their practice
as a professional.
What professional development have you had to help you become
a better leader?
I'm still part of a follow-up think tank group with my graduate
class [UC Berkeley's Principal Leadership Institute] which meets
once a month. We pick a leverage piece that we want to work on
at the school and focus in on as a professional to advance our
own practice. The district is also following this model. I'm working
on observation and feedback with a specific grade level to see
how that affects teacher practice. This focus is also tied in
to my work with PartnersSI. We've selected communications—setting
clear goals and how that affects the learning community—as
a principal competency to develop.
What are some of your challenges as a leader?
Sometimes my emotions come out, because I like to be an open person,
but it doesn't work all the time as a leader. Through some feedback
from colleagues at the school who I really respect and trust,
I learned that they want to see a leader who is always strong
and calm. For me that's kind of a false figure. I think it's important
to be a strong leader, but leadership is seen in my mind as an
old paradigm, the paternalistic leader versus someone who makes
decisions collaboratively, which is seen as a weakness instead
of a strength. I want to create a different paradigm to have shared
leadership and a shared community.
What are your future goals?
I'd like to continue down the road we're going where teachers
are continuing to learn and open to feedback and sharing ideas
with each other. If I leave, I want to make sure these things
continue, that it's part of the culture of the school.
Articles in this issue (Dec 2006):
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